Strawberry Sunset Suicide
by zst4ever
Summary: It was all a plot. Wammy era, with a very significant visit from L. How far would you go to defeat a criminal?
1. The Sky is a Garden

**A/N:**

** Originally a oneshot (I'm in the middle of another DN story), but then I decided to add more Matt. So there will be a few more chapters. Maybe just one more.**

**SPOILERS FOR MELLO'S NAME.**

**Takes place somewhere between manga volumes 3 and…6? Sure... **

**Wammy's is by an ocean and a forest in this fic. It just needed to be.**

**If I owned Matt, Mello, and L, would I be writing this? No…I'd be doing….**_**other**_**…things. **

**Enjoy!**

"Mello, Mello! Lookit, Mel, I beat the high score!" Matt's lips twisted into a grin. "I beat YOUR high score!"

Mello's 12-year-old eyes looked up from the old crime records he was examining.

"Heh, not for long! Don't you worry, tomorrow morning I'll knock your pathetic score right off the screen!" His voice was light and happy, but there was a note in it that isn't usually heard in children. Chocolate ice cream with coffee bits sprinkled throughout, blemishing the innocence.

Matt looked at Mello's furrowed brows.

"Tomorrow?"

Even without sparing another glance at his friend, Mello could tell his face had fallen.

"How come you won't play now, Mel? We finished dinner already, and bedtime's not for another 2 hours? Besides," Matt added with a touch of satisfaction, "it's Saturday! How come you're working?"

"I have to keep working, Matt. I have to get better, y'know." Mello smiled, his oddly effeminate lips pushing familiar dimples into his cheeks. "You should be studying too, Matt! You barely even touched your vocabulary words this week!"

Matt rolled over onto his stomach and began to load a new game. If the vocabulary word wasn't "battle", "slayer", or "victory", usually he wasn't interested.

"I'll do it tomorrow…" he said absent-mindedly. "AFTER I beat your high score again!"

Mello chuckled and returned to the crime records, his ears well-trained in blocking out the various electronic pings, "Checkpoint!"s and screams coming from Matt's corner.

A sort of cozy peace filled the room, and both boys basked in it, Matt lazily defeating zombies and Mello feverishly learning about alimony. Until—

_Knock. Knock._

Both the boys looked up in surprise. No one ever knocked this late, not even Near or Linda.

"Come in?" Mello called. Matt (omg) paused his game.

And in walked the catalyst that changed the course of their lives forever.

Eating a chocolate-covered strawberry.

"L!" They both shot upright, Mello straightening his shirt.

L smiled gently.

"Hello, boys. I hope you are having an enjoyable evening? It certainly looks like it…"

Matt blushed and tried to hide the Playstation controller under the dresser.

"Y-yes, thank you," Mello stuttered.

"You are probably wondering why exactly I am here. I have not visited Wammy's in a very long time." L continued in his even tone. "I have to speak to you." He was looking at Mello.

"Me?" It was almost a squeak, and L's smile grew slightly.

"Yes. But I have something for you too." Now he was looking at Matt, and holding out what seemed to be a large bundle of—

"Video games?!" Matt exclaimed in surprise. Manners forgotten, he grabbed the thick package out of L's hand. "T-t-t-tha—THANK YOU!!" His face was the epitome of childhood ecstasy, as if Christmas had come early. Something clenched at L's heart at the contrast: Matt's unbridled youthful joy next to Mello's solemn eyes. But nothing showed on the young man's face

" You are very welcome. And now," he turned to Mello, "would you please come for a walk with me? I have already cleared it with Roger."

Mello's face nearly exploded in a grin.

"With you? Sure! Y-yes!"

L smiled down at him.

"Then if you will excuse us, Matt?"

Matt nodded mutely, ripping wrappers off little cartridges of Matt-heaven.

Mello followed his idol out the doorway, through the hall, and into the woods Wammy's. The warm twilight caressed his round cheeks and tousled his flaxen hair. The falling sun painted the trees with gold and glanced off Mello's head.

"We are going to a special spot of mine to talk, okay? L turned at the child scrambling to keep up with his long legs and his breath caught in his throat. The gleam of the sun…Mello's face seemed to be encircled by a shimmering halo.

"Okay," said the lips from beneath the halo. Mello noticed that L was carrying something. It looked like a box of some sort. He wondered about it for a while, but then he had to concentrate on where he was going. He had never been to this part of the woods before, and it took a lot of effort to not trip over tree roots. The trees cast long shadows on the illuminated forest floor. Just when Mello opened his breathless mouth to ask how much farther, he knew they had arrived.

"We're here," L said, though he could tell that Mello knew.

They had reached a cliff. The trees stopped about 20 feet behind the edge, as if afraid to go too close. It was sunset now, the fiery pink orb hovering what seemed to be inches over the horizon, setting the sky and the sea glowing fiercely with color.

L looked at the halo-clad boy next to him and blinked to get rid of the hotness pooling the corner of his eyes. He looked back at the sunset to distract himself

"It's beautiful, isn't it?

Mello stood, transfixed. Growing up what he thought was the heart of London, he had never seen a sunset like this before. He never would have guessed it was walking distance from his makeshift home.

"No."

L cocked his head to the side and stuck his pointer finger on his bottom lip.

"No?"

"No," Mello repeated. He was still staring at the sight in front of him. "It's not beautiful. Beautiful is what you call a pretty flower. Look, L. Look at the colors." L didn't. He looked at Mello, but Mello was too caught up to notice. "It's not just red and pink and blue. It's more than that. Lilac. Tiger lily. Bluebell. Rose. And just a hint of baby's breath." He tore his eyes away and stared at L, his smile shining in the fading sunlight. "Don't you see? Tonight, the sky is a garden."

On the outside, L smiled back. On the outside, he ruffled the halo of hair, sat on the grass, and opened the box he had been carrying.

On the inside, L's heart was breaking. How could he ask such a child to do such a thing. How could he ask him to---

"L?"

"Yes?"

"Are those…strawberries?" Mello looked into the box.

L patted the grass beside him.

"Come, sit. I brought them for us to share while we talk."

Mello sat gingerly next to the man he hoped to be just like one day.

"And they're not JUST strawberries. They're chocolate covered strawberries. I've taken a particular liking to them," L said.

Mello picked up a strawberry and popped it into his mouth. Though the strawberry was cold, it somehow tasted warm in his mouth. The chocolate was comforting. He never really ate chocolate much; there wasn't much of it in Wammy's. You had to make a special trip into town to get it.

"Wow," he exclaimed quietly. "Chocolate is really good!"

"I thought you'd like them," L chuckled.

There they sat for a few minutes, munching softly and watching the "garden" slowly turn darker and darker. L couldn't help but notice that as the sky faded, so did Mello's halo.

"Um..what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Mello's timid voice broke the silence.

L didn't want to do this, but he had to. He had to he had to he had to. There was literally no other choice. He had thought through everything – every other possibility! But this was the only way it would work. Here in the haven of the cliff, the outside world seemed faraway, Kira only a fairytale demon that mothers told their children about to make them behave. The truth was, people were dying, there were probably dying right now. And this was the only way to make the killings stop.

"L?"

-----------------------------

"Awww, they've been gone almost an hour," Matt announced to Mario and Luigi. With a sigh, he switched off the game and turned to his homework. "Might as well…there's no one to play with…"

He sat at the desk in front of the window, not needing to switch on the lamp, as the setting sun provided him with enough light. Matt opened the vocabulary section of his workbook and began copying definitions.

"Sunset," he murmured to himself, as he wrote it painstakingly into his notebook. His tongue poked out of his mouth in concentration. He finished writing the final word, held up his work, and grinned. "That's enough for tonight! Back to Marioworld…"

Matt planted himself back on the floor, neglecting the other 19 vocabulary words on his list. The light from the window shone on the solitary definition in Matt's scrawl.

"The setting or descent of the sun below the western horizon in the evening. Often linked to endings, often symbolizes death. [eg: The death of the sun, the death of the day."

**Um…I realize L kinda sounds like a pedo at times….that was not my intent…and I will NOT be pursuing that story line in any way. Anyways, yeah I think I'll continue this…but let me know what YOU think -**


	2. The Beginning of the End

**A/N: Okay, no way was that a oneshot. It woulda been the crappiest one ever. Heh, this should make things clearer. Remember…spoilers for Mello's real name! And actually. spoilers for everything Mello/Matt/L-related. SPOILERS!! Oh, and idk, the ages might be a bit off. To me, Mello and Matt are around 11-12.**

"L?" he asked again. "W-what did you want to talk about?"

There was a long pause. The top of the sun was almost about to slip beneath the horizon, and it was almost as if the sky and the sea and reversed themselves: the water was ablaze with color as the sun drowned itself; the clouds were turning a deep blue.

It was the most difficult silence in L's life. He brought a chocolate-smothered strawberry to his lips, but for the first time ever it seemed too sweet. It didn't fit what he was about to say. He put it down again.

This was it. The beginning of the end.

--------------------------

At exactly the same moment, Matt watched the sun disappear beneath the horizon. He was starting to worry. He was only eleven years old, though he would be twelve soon – just another few months, actually, and then he would be as old as Mello! Age or not, Matt knew, somewhere deep down, that he and Mello would never truly be equals. Mello was always ahead of him, and that was okay. Mello got better grades, Mello was always in charge. As long as Mello was _there,_ Matt was okay.

Well, not right now.

Because Mello was missing.

And he wasn't sure why, but something was tugging at Matt's heart, something was telling him that there wasn't something right. He tried to shake it off and tell himself that he was just being paranoid (it was one of the few vocabulary words he actually had learned), but he just couldn't.

"Bedtime! Lights out, everyone!" The familiar 8:30 call rang through the halls. Matt lay on the bed, fully clothed. He turned out the lights, but all he could do was stare at the ceiling.

"Where is he?" he asked the empty room.

It was odd. Mello had left him before, to go bother Near or study or something. But this was different, it _felt_ different, and what was really scary was that Matt had no idea why.

He had never felt so alone.

-------------------------------

Those eyes…the pure round eyes staring into L's…they were so innocent, so trusting.

A gust of twilight wind blew in from the murky waters, causing Mello to involuntarily shift closer to L's warm body.

L didn't think anymore. He couldn't. He couldn't let himself think about it. There was nothing more to do than just say it.

"How far would you be willing to go to capture a murderer?"

He said it.

"I would give my life," the child responded instantly. Young as he was, he had thought about this. You had to, when you were being trained in Wammy's, if you were serious in your studies. And Mello was dead serious.

L's face was seemed expressionless: eyes wide, a chocolate covered finger hovering on the precipice of his lip.

But his heart was about to explode. The plan had seemed so much easier before he actually confronted the boy. It would be so much less painful if he had resisted, if L had to explain to him _why_ you must sometimes die to save others. If he had needed to give the justification that would reassure not just Mello, but L, that they were doing the right thing.

"You mean you are willing to die to save others, Mihael? You are prepared for that?"

L couldn't help notice, even now. The halo of light that had been surrounding Mello's head was gone, replaced by nothing but gray. Locks of the dulled hair shimmering in the growing moonlight flew around the boy's head as he shuddered.

"Don't call me that!" He jabbed a thumb into his chest. "I'm Mello!"

One last cotton candy cloud lazed its way across the moon, covering L's face in shadow for a single moment. Long enough for Mello not to notice the telltale brightness in the corner of midnight eyes that was hastily blinked away.

"Mello, then. You are willing to die?"

Maybe it was the shadows, but as L looked at the boy next to him, he no longer saw a boy. The features looked sharper, the muscles looked more defined. The eyes, the shining eyes, were the only part of Mello that made him seem childish. Even his voice when he next spoke seemed deeper.

"If by my death, I can end what's happening out there…" Mello gestured vaguely to London behind him, then looked L straight in the eye. "I would pull the trigger myself."

The picture in front of L didn't make sense. A young boy agreeing to cut short a life of possibilities in order to save people he had never heard of? It wasn't logical. He had assumed there would be a 95 percent chance of Mello's disagreement. After all, the boy had just turned twelve. What twelve year old kid would agree to death so quickly?

One who had been raised learning that you must go to any length to stop crime, of course.

Damn Wammy's. Roger needs a serious lecture on priorities.

L sighed, watching Mello munch peacefully on another strawberry. Now came the even harder part….he had to tell Mello about his plan, about how he himself would have to play into Kira's hands, about how Mello had to be sacrificed so Near could put together the last piece of the puzzle. But….he didn't want to.

"Mello."

Mello looked at him, licking the chocolate ravenously off his fingers.

L took a deep breath and—

"You want me to sacrifice myself, right?"

What.

"Excuse me, Mello-kun?"

"You want me to sacrifice myself to catch Kira, right? That's why you took me aside tonight, isn't it? To tell me about your plan?" He said it with barely any sadness, in fact, he grinned slightly at L's taken-aback expression. "Why else would you ask me these questions?" He was so matter-of-fact…

"Y-yes…but I didn't expect you to--"

"L." Mello placed his spindly, chocolate-covered hand over L's shaking one. "That's why Wammy's exists, isn't it? To raise people who are willing to give everything? Well, I'm willing. I want to become the next you, you know. And if you are ready to be a martyr, so am I."

"B-But—you're only a child!" L's voice broke. How could their roles be reversed like this…

"Tell me your plan. I told you I would give my life. And I will."

Both of their eyes were bright with tears under the moonlight, but Mello was smiling. He actually reached up to brush away the dampness in L's eyes, but the older man caught his hand.

"Let me be the grown-up for a little bit more, Mello." He tried to smile back, but he choked slightly and decided to just wipe away the tears on the boy's face himself. "Now. Here is what we need to do…"

-------------------------------------

The door creaked open. Matt sat up quickly, half-asleep.

"Mel? 'Sthat you?" He rubbed his eyes.

"Shh, Matt. Yeah, it is." Matt heard the door close quietly. Wait….Mello never did anything quietly…

"Is everything okay?" He ran a hand through the messy hair that he never bothered to comb.

"Yeah," came the soft reply. "Just…just go back to sleep, all right?"

"No!" Now he was totally awake. He flung the sheets off his pajamaed legs and tried to stand, but Mello's palm hit him in the chest, making him sit back down. Hard. Matt felt his eyes brim with tears. "I-is everything okay?" he repeated. He heard a sigh in the darkness, and felt the Mello-shaped outline sit on the edge of his bed. There was a long silence.

"Yes. Everything is okay." He said it in the way that every eleven-year-old can tell it's NOT okay. And something was wrong with Mello, Matt could tell. His voice sounded different.

"What's that?" Matt asked. Mello had just stuck a box on the floor.

"Chocolates. L gave them to me." Matt could hear the smile in his voice.

"Oh…do you like chocolate now?"

Mello gave a little laugh. It was scary. It didn't sound like his laugh at all. It sounded like a grown-up laugh.

"You know what? I think I do." _Because it will always remind me of why I'm doing this. Every time I take a bite of chocolate, I will think of him. Of L. Of the lives we are saving._

"M-Mello?" Matt hated his voice right then. It sounded so immature next to Mello's deep one. He took a deep breath. "Something happened tonight, didn't it?"

Mello leaned over and did something completely unexpected. He put a hand on each of Matt's shoulders and pressed his head into the pillow. Then he took the comforter and tucked in snugly under Matt's chin. He lifted a finger and wiped away the solitary tear on his friend's face.

"What is it? What happened, Mello?" Matt was terrified now.

"Shh. Don't worry about it. Just…" he smoothed back Matt's hair. "Just go back to sleep."

"Y-you know…n-no matter what happens…I'll always be there for you….right?"

"Psh, don't be so cheesy, Matt!"

Matt gave a shaky laugh at Mello's attempt of ferociousness.

"But yeah." Mello's voice was serious again. "I know." He sighed and stroked Matt's hair one last time before standing up. "Come on, we really need to get to bed – it's almost midnight!"

"Um—right!" Matt rolled over to look at Mello's silhouette. "Good night, Mello." And he knew what he had said was true – no matter where Mello went, he would always be one step behind. Without Mello….he didn't think he could survive.

"Good night, Matt."

Two hours later, Mello was still wide awake. He gazed over at the unmoving lump that was Matt.

_I know what I have to do. But I hope that none of this ever involves you, Matt. I hope that L's plan succeeds…and I hope that when it does, you will continue to live, and love, and laugh…_

---------------------------------

Somewhere in a hotel room, very far away, L was crying. After all he had told Mello, there was still one part of the plan, an inevitable part, that he had kept from the boy. He just couldn't bring himself to tell him of his friend's fate – Mello would never agree to Matt's death. L thrashed his head furiously against the window, through which the sun was just beginning to rise. He hadn't told Mello, but that wouldn't stop it from happening.

_Sacrifices…._

No matter what happened, L knew the truth. Matt had never lived a conscious day without Mello – and he never would.

**-END-**

**This was mainly because I had serious writer's block over my Death Note "Addiction" fic and because I saw a really pretty sunset…anyways, my writer's block is over, so I'll go back to that now…but let me know what you thought of this!**


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